The Lung Thing, The Brain Thing

It was with a sickened heart that I read the long front page article in the New York Times, “Re-election Strategy is Tied to a Shift on Smog.” The piece walks through the process by which President Obama suddenly withdrew one of the most important pollution regulations of his administration, one that was meant to set safer limits on the ozone pollution that causes smog. The article outlines an aggressive campaign on the part of trade groups like the American Petroleum Institute and other industry lobbyists–who were successful in killing the regulation, and blind-siding Administrator Lisa Jackson in the process.

The chief lobbyist for the Chamber of Commerce described Administrator Jackson’s presentation on why new ozone rules were so important: “the lung thing, the asthma thing, the kids’ health thing.” Right. Those “things” happen to be human beings–it was a revealing moment, showing us how callous pro-polluters can be about the costs of pollution to human life.

In another meeting at the White House, a pulmonologist at Duke university laid out the health impacts of pollution, talking about the statistics on deaths associated with higher ozone levels. She emphasized the damage smog does to the lungs of even healthy young children.

William Daley, the President’s Chief of Staff, listened politely, then asked, “What are the health impacts of unemployment?” It was a question right out of the industry playbook.